Google Docs MCP Server

Google Docs MCP Server

This is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows you to connect to Google Docs through Claude. With this server, you can:

• List all Google Docs in your Drive
• Read the content of specific documents
• Create new documents
• Update existing documents
• Search for documents
• Delete documents

Prerequisites

• Node.js v16.0.0 or later
• Google Cloud project with the Google Docs API and Google Drive API enabled
• OAuth 2.0 credentials for your Google Cloud project

Setup

1. Clone this repository and navigate to the project directory:

2. Install dependencies:

3. Create an OAuth 2.0 client ID in the Google Cloud Console:
   • Go to the Google Cloud Console
   • Create a new project or select an existing one
   • Enable the Google Docs API and Google Drive API
   • Go to "APIs & Services" > "Credentials"
   • Click "Create Credentials" > "OAuth client ID"
   • Select "Desktop app" for the application type
   • Download the JSON file and save it as credentials.json in your project directory

   Important: The credentials.json and token.json files contain sensitive information and are excluded from version control via .gitignore. Never commit these files to your repository.

4. Build the project:

5. Run the server:

The first time you run the server, it will prompt you to authenticate with Google. Follow the on-screen instructions to authorize the application. This will generate a token.json file that stores your access tokens.

Security Considerations

• Credential Security: Both credentials.json and token.json contain sensitive information and should never be shared or committed to version control. They are already added to the .gitignore file.
• Token Refresh: The application automatically refreshes the access token when it expires.
• Revoking Access: If you need to revoke access, delete the token.json file and go to your Google Account Security settings to remove the app from your authorized applications.

Connecting to Claude for Desktop

To use this server with Claude for Desktop:

1. Edit your Claude Desktop configuration file:
   • On macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • On Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
2. Add the following to your configuration:

Replace /absolute/path/to/build/server.js with the actual path to your built server.js file.

3. Restart Claude for Desktop.

User Interface

The Google Docs MCP server features a user-friendly, conversational interface that:

• Presents document information in a clean, readable format
• Uses natural language responses rather than raw API data
• Formats dates in a human-readable way
• Provides helpful follow-up questions after actions
• Never exposes sensitive data like OAuth tokens

This interface styling is designed to match other Claude MCP integrations like Notion, providing a consistent and pleasant user experience.

Development

Project Structure

Adding New Features

To add new features to the MCP server:

1. Modify the src/server.ts file to implement new functionality
2. Build the project with npm run build
3. Test your changes by running npm start

Available Resources

• googledocs://list - Lists all Google Docs in your Drive
• googledocs://{docId} - Gets the content of a specific document by ID

Available Tools

• create-doc - Creates a new Google Doc with the specified title and optional content
• update-doc - Updates an existing Google Doc with new content (append or replace)
• insert-text - Directly inserts text into a document without Notion or other integrations
• search-docs - Searches for Google Docs containing specific text
• delete-doc - Deletes a Google Doc by ID

Available Prompts

• create-doc-template - Helps create a new document based on a specified topic and writing style
• analyze-doc - Analyzes the content of a document and provides a summary

Usage Examples

Here are some example prompts you can use with Claude once the server is connected:

• "Show me a list of all my Google Docs"
• "Create a new Google Doc titled 'Meeting Notes' with the content 'Topics to discuss: ...'"
• "Update my document with ID '1abc123def456' to add this section at the end: ..."
• "Search my Google Docs for any documents containing 'project proposal'"
• "Delete the Google Doc with ID '1abc123def456'"
• "Create a formal document about climate change"
• "Analyze the content of document with ID '1abc123def456'"

Troubleshooting

If you encounter authentication issues:

1. Delete the token.json file in your project directory
2. Run the server again to trigger a new authentication flow

If you're having trouble with the Google Docs API:

1. Make sure the API is enabled in your Google Cloud Console
2. Check that your OAuth credentials have the correct scopes

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
3. Commit your changes: git commit -am 'Add some feature'
4. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/your-feature-name
5. Submit a pull request

License

MIT

Environment Variables

Create a .env file at the project root (or export the variables in your shell) with the following keys:

If these variables are set, the server will not attempt to read credentials.json or token.json from disk.